Use Xantly with Zapier (OpenAI connector)

Zapier's OpenAI app lets you call chat completions inside Zaps. It supports a "Custom Base URL" field in the connection settings, pointing it at Xantly gives every Zap action BaRP routing, semantic cache, and memory. Good fit for high-volume automated workflows where the same prompt-shape fires thousands of times per day.

Prerequisites

• A Zapier account (any plan, OpenAI app works on free)
• A Xantly API key, create one

Setup

1. In Zapier, create a new Zap.
2. For the Action step, search OpenAI → pick Conversation (chat completions).
3. Under Account, click Connect a new OpenAI account.
4. Fill in:

5. Click Yes, Continue.

Every subsequent OpenAI-app action in your Zaps now routes through Xantly.

Build the action

1. User Message: (your dynamic input from the trigger)
2. Model: xantly/auto-value (speed matters in Zaps, fast + cheap is usually best)
3. Assistant Instructions: whatever system prompt you need
4. Memory Key / Max Tokens / etc.: as needed

Test the Zap, Xantly logs the call with routing + cost.

High-volume patterns

Zapier's sweet spot is workflows that fire many times per day. These benefit heavily from Xantly's cache:

• Email classifier (categorize inbound mail), 500 calls/day, 60%+ cache hit rate.
• Lead qualification (score inbound forms), same pattern.
• Customer support tagger (tag inbound tickets), often identical prompt templates with different data.

Typical savings: 40-70% vs pointing Zapier directly at OpenAI when cache hits kick in.

Webhooks step for advanced use

If the OpenAI app doesn't expose a setting you need (custom headers, e.g. for X-Xantly-Memory-Mode), use Webhooks by Zapier → POST:

This gives you the full Xantly feature set including memory modes.

Model choice

For high-frequency Zaps, don't use xantly/auto-quality unless you need it, speed/value tiers are 5-10× cheaper and good enough for classification / short rewriting.

Verify

1. Create a trivial Zap: Schedule by Zapier (every hour) → OpenAI Conversation (Xantly account, model xantly/auto-speed, message "say pong").
2. Run once manually.
3. Check the Xantly dashboard, call logged with routing + cost.

What you get

• Massive cache savings. Classifiers and templated Zaps see 50-80% cache hit rates. Your bill shrinks accordingly.
• Waterfall fallback. Provider outages don't kill scheduled Zaps overnight.
• Cost per Zap. Create a separate Xantly API key per Zap (zap-leadqualifier, zap-emailtagger) and track spend per workflow.
• Budget caps per Zap: protect yourself from a runaway trigger.
• Memory via Webhooks step for Zaps that need cross-run recall.

Gotchas

Zapier caches the OpenAI account connection. After changing the base URL or API key, test the Zap action once to force a reconnect, otherwise old values linger.

/v1 required in API Base.

Rate limits. Zapier itself throttles tasks per plan. If you're on free/starter plan, you won't hit Xantly's rate limits before Zapier's, but on Pro/Company, you might. Check your Xantly plan's RPM limit.

The built-in AI by Zapier step is different. Zapier also ships their own "AI" step (branded as Zapier AI). That one doesn't expose base URL, only their hosted OpenAI pass-through. Use the plain OpenAI app instead.

Long responses timeout. Zapier action steps have a 30-second hard cap. For long responses, either use a shorter max_tokens or break the task across multiple steps.

Next steps

• n8n, self-hostable alternative with more power.
• OpenAI SDK (TypeScript), for custom Zapier apps.
• Cost-Optimized Routing, critical at automation scale.
• Bring Your Own Key, route Zapier through your own OpenAI credits.